Blockbuster gives one month of free rentals to Gears of War 3 purchasers

May attempt to get into the video game or movie rental business

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Blockbuster has always been a slow moving beast. When competition started offering movies by mail and streaming options it eventually followed suit, though it took its time doing so. But now, with its main competitor on the ropes for the first time in years, it is ready to pounce. In a move that’s positioned to remind gamers that there’s another rental option besides Netflix’s rebranded DVD service Quickster, Blockbuster has announced plans to offer one month of unlimited movie and game rentals to anyone who purchases Gears of War 3 from one of its stores.

“We want to get back on gamers’ radars with a promo that packs a punch,” said Randall Baker, Blockbuster’s Senior Buyer of Video Games. “Gears of War 3 is certainly one of the biggest games of the year, but players may want to take a breather from fighting alongside Delta Squad every now and then. We’re giving them nearly unlimited entertainment options for those spare minutes.”

The promotion will run from today until October 7, which gives you plenty of time to strategically take advantage of this deal. Think about it: if you wait until October 7 you’ll be able to rent all of the games you want through November 7, which means one month of the holiday season you can potentially avoid needing to buy new games. With huge releases coming out nearly every week from now through December this could mean saving a lot of money, especially if you focus on knocking out all of the singleplayer games you were on the fence about anyway.

We’re not going to lie - this is actually a surprisingly cool idea. Blockbuster wins, because it means more Gears of War 3 sales - and customers win, because they get to save what could amount to several hundred dollars if they take full advantage of the deal. The only one who loses is NetFlix/Quickster, as this promotion has the potential to remind everyone how easy it is to drive down the street to a Blockbuster when they want to rent a movie or game… as long as that Blockbuster isn’t closed.